To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of fourth generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved fifth generation (5G) or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a ‘Beyond 4G Network’ or a ‘Post long-term evolution (LTE) System’. The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like. In the 5G system, hybrid frequency shift keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed.
The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internet of things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the Big Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”, “wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “service interface technology”, and “Security technology” have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched. Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology services that create a new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances and advanced medical services through convergence and combination between existing information technology (IT) and various industrial applications.
In line with this, various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud RAN as the above-described Big Data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology.
A universal integrated circuit card (UICC) is a smart card used to be inserted into a mobile communication terminal or the like, and is called a UICC card. The UICC may include an access control module for accessing a network of a mobile communication service provider. Examples of such an access control module may be a universal subscriber identity module (USIM), a subscriber identity module (SIM), and an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia service identity module (ISIM). The UICC including the USIM may be normally called the USIM card. In the same manner, the UICC including the SIM module may be normally called the SIM card. In the following description of the present disclosure, the SIM card will be normally used to include the UICC card, the USIM card, and the UICC including the ISIM. That is, although the SIM card is mentioned, the technical characteristic thereof may also be applied to the USIM card, the ISIM card, or the general UICC card in the same manner.
The SIM card stores personal information of a mobile communication subscriber, and enables the subscriber to use safe mobile communications through performing subscriber authentication and traffic security key generation during accessing to a mobile communication network.
At the time of proposing the present disclosure, in general, the SIM card is manufactured as a dedicated card for a specific mobile communication service provider by the request of the corresponding service provider during manufacturing of the card, and authentication information for accessing to the network of the corresponding service provider, for example, a USIM application and international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), K value, and OPc value, is embedded in advance in the card before shipping. Accordingly, the manufactured SIM card is delivered to the corresponding mobile communication service provider, and then is provided to the subscriber. Thereafter, if needed, management, such as installation, correction, and deletion, of applications in the UICC may be performed using technology, such as over-the-air (OTA). The subscriber can use the network and application services of the corresponding mobile communication service provider through insertion of the UICC card into a subscriber's mobile communication terminal. In the case of replacement of the terminal, the UICC card may be removed from the existing terminal and then may be inserted into a new terminal, and thus it is possible to use the authentication information, mobile communication phone number, personal phonebook, and the like stored in the UICC card as they are in the new terminal.
However, the SIM card is inconvenient in use in the case where a mobile communication terminal user intends to receive a service provided from another mobile communication service provider because the user should physically acquire a SIM card for the service. For example, in the case of making a trip to another country, the terminal user should purchase a local SIM card in order to receive the local mobile communication service. Although a roaming service may somewhat address the problem of inconvenience, the user may be unable to receive the service due to expensive fees or nonexistent agreement between communication service providers.
On the other hand, in the case where the SIM module is remotely downloaded and installed in the UICC card, the problem of inconvenience as described above can be considerably addressed. That is, the user can download the SIM module of the mobile communication service intended to be used into the UICC card at a desired time. A plurality of SIM modules may be downloaded and installed in the UICC card, and one of the downloaded SIM modules may be selected to be used. The UICC card may be or may not be fixed to the terminal. In particular, the UICC fixed to the terminal is called an embedded UICC (eUICC), and the eUICC means a UICC card which is normally fixed to the terminal and can remotely download and select the SIM module. In the present disclosure, the UICC card capable of remotely downloading and selecting the SIM module is commonly called the eUICC. That is, the UICC card that is fixed to or is not fixed to the terminal among the UICC cards capable of remotely downloading and selecting the SIM module is commonly called the eUICC. Further, downloaded SIM module information is commonly called an eUICC profile.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.